1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article of lawn furniture for exercise and amusement of one or more persons. More particularly, the invention provides an elongated horizontal board or plank, supported near each end by support assemblies which cooperate to permit longitudinal and transverse motion of the plank when in use by one or more persons mounted on the board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices known as joggling boards or joggling benches for longitudinal rocking motion, coupled with limited upward and downward swinging motion, have been known for over 100 years, such as the item described in Popular Science, January, 1941, page 155. Such a device, however, does not permit extensive transverse motion.
Various configurations of rocking devices are known in the prior art. Coplin in U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,461, issued Aug. 20, 1957, shows an exercising apparatus having a wooden rocker member in the shape of perpendicularly intersecting semi-circular boards. No rocker stops are shown, however, to limit the degree of tipping of the device, nor are the wings of the wooden rocker members braced in any way.
Studebaker et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,787, issued June 8, 1976, disclose curved rockers on a load supporting member, but fail to show a pair of support assemblies for permitting rotary or combined longitudinal and transverse motion of a board or a bouncing motion thereof. Shoger, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,438, issued Apr. 19, 1977, shows a horizontal board with supports at opposite ends, but motion of the board is not suggested or taught. Similarly, Slama, in Swiss Pat. No. 132,348, issued June 17, 1929, discloses a gymnastic apparatus with two double posts independent of each other, where a pair of frames is provided for a bar arranged for admission in the frame either slidingly vertically through a slot in the frame, or for placement on the horizontal top side of the frame, but motion of the board is not taught or suggested. Pitkanen, in Canadian Pat. No. 887,255, issued November 30, 1971, discloses a rockable balance plank which includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced and transversely extending rocker members which oscillatably support the plank for oscillatory motion in one plane only, namely in a plane perpendicular to the beam. No longitudinal motion is possible, nor is a bouncing or rotary motion possible with the Pitkanen device.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,283,210, issued Oct. 29, 1918, to Kinney, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,107, issued May 24, 1977, to Chippa, show rockable chairs for amusement or for exercise. A support ring having a central pivot point is present in the Kinney device to induce vibration in the body of the user, relying upon projections to contact the mounting surface or floor to furnish such vibrations. A fixed mounting is required by the Kinney device, leading to lack of portability and requiring a suitable mounting surface. Specifically, use as an item of lawn furniture cannot be contemplated by the Kinney device. The Chippa chair provides a relatively complex fully dished head for rotary or rocking motion of an associated chair having height adjustment and hingeably attached seating legs. Such a spoon-type bottom construction requires complex fabrication, and is directed to a collapsible chair for compactness of storage.
Rocker devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,345, issued Feb. 2, 1960, to Strauss, and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,930,430, issued Mar. 29, 1960, to Bloom. The Strauss patent countenances six rocker fins as a means to approximate rotary motion. Such rotary motion as results from the Strauss device lacks a smooth and vibration-free motion, since the tipped device generates an irregular or bouncing movement as rotation proceeds over the fin members, thereby detracting from the smoothness of a hemispherical or spheroidal motion.
In addition to the drawbacks, shortcomings, and deficiencies of the rocker devices taught by the prior art patents above, all such devices fail to teach a cooperative relationship between two or more rocker assemblies to produce an exercise device or item of furniture comprising a longitudinally elongated board or plank supported by two or more such assemblies.